Power-press



1N. c. STILBS. n

2 Sheef-Sheet POWER PRESS.

(Nd Model.)

Np. 364,142'. Patented May 31 1887.

(No Model.)

.'I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. N. C. STILES.

POWER PRESS.

No. 364,142. Patented May s1, 11887.

ci/M!" ings, and the letters of reference marked UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.,

NORMAN C. STILES, OF MIDDLETOVN, CONNECTICUT.

POWER-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,142, dated May 31,1887.

pplication filed December 13, 1F86. Serial No. 221,406. (No model.)

provements in Power-Presses; and I do hereby declare the following, whentaken in connection with accompanying two sheets of drawthereon, to be afull, clear, and exact descrip tion of the same, and which said drawingsconstitute part of this specification, and rep' Figure 1, a front view;Fig. l, an inside view of one side ofthe frame, showing the verticalguiding-groove O with the shaft bearing therein; Fig. 2, a transversesection through the slides on line a' x of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a verticalsection through the slides, showing side view of the toggle inthe'contracted or up position; Fig. 4, substantially the same parts asin Fig. 3, showing the toggle in the extended or down position; Fig. 5,amodiiic'ation in the connection between the punchslide and the toggles;Fig. 6, a vertical section through the fixed die-holder; Fig. 7, aperspective view of thelower portion of the press, illustrating theadjustment ofthe fixed die.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of power-pressesin which two operations are to be performed, commonly calleddouble-action power-presses --as, for illustration, in drawing orcapping sheet metal the sheet or blank to be operated upon lies flatupon the surface surrounding the die into which the metal is to beforced, and so that as the punch approaches the metal itwill strike thesurface of the metal upon the side opposite the die upon which the sheetlies, and will force the metal down into the die, drawing, contracting,or expanding the metal, so as to bring it to the shape of the spacebetween the punch and the die when the punch stands within the die. 4

Were not some provision made, the portion of the fiat sheet extendingbeyond the die would be fulled or puckered in the process of beingdrawninto the die, so as to produce uneven work. To obviateV this difficulty,a holder is provided which will rest upon the sheet of metal around thecavity in the die, so as to hold the sheet flat and permit it to begradually drawn into the die. The two operations before referred to areone to thus hold or bear upon the blank while being drawn and the otherto operate the punch. The first usually consists of a slide, presentinga dat surface toward theY die, and so that after the blank or sheet hasbeen laid over the die this i holding slide descends in advance of thepunch and comes close upon the side of the blank or sheet opposite thedie, and so as to grasp the blank between the die and the face of thesaid slide. Then as the die comes upon the'blank within the said slideand over the cavity in' which existed in the then common devices for goperating this holdingslide. Up to that time the holding-slide had beengenerally operated by means of a cam on the.drivingshaft,which wouldforce the holder down upon the blank, and as a very nice adjustment isnecessary between the two holding or grasping surfaces it required but aslight wear of the cam or surface upon which it worked to disturb .theproper relation of these two surfaces. The

object of that invention was principallyto overcome that difficulty anddevise a mechanism in which the wear would be slight and not materiallyaffect the proper relation ofthe holding-surfaces. To that end thatinvention consisted in combining the slide which carried the movableholding surfaces with a toggle, through which, from the driving-shaft,the reciprocating movement was imparted to the said holding-slide, andin that invention the toggle was operated directlyfrom thedrivingshaft,either by a cam thereon or some projec tion extendingtherefrom. y'

My present invention is an improvement upon that described in my saidpatent, and has-- for its object amore simple and effective arrangementand operation of the toggle.

A A represent the two sides or uprights ofthe apparatus, in the upperpart of which the ICO driving-shaft B is arranged in suitablebearings,and so as to revolve by the application of power thereto in anyknown manner, not necessary to be illustrated in this application.

C represents a slide arranged to receive an upand-down reciprocatingmovement in vertical guides in the frame. Within this slide C is thepunch-carrying. slide D, to which reciprocating movement is imparted, bymeans of a crank or eccentric, E, on the driving-shaft, through apitman, F, in the usual manner and as in my patent before referred to,so that each revolution of the driving-shaft imparts a full up-anddownreciprocating movement to the punch carrying slide. works through theslide Cin the usual manner and as seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

The slide C carries the holdingsurface G, which in its downward movementis adapted to come so close to the face of the die H as` to grasp thesheet or blank laid thereon, as in my previous patent; and this downwardmovement of the slide C is such as to bring the holding-die Gintothegripping condition upon the blank before the punch reaches the blankand hold it upon the blank while the punch continues its descent intothe die, and so that the metal is drawn into the die from between theholding-surface and the face of the die in the usual manner. Then theslide C rises, as well as the punch.

To impart the np-and-down. reciprocating movement to the slide C, a pairof toggles are provided, each consisting of one link, I, hung by itslower end to the slide C, as at a, and s0 as to swing in aplane at rightangles 'to the axis of the driving-shaft, and a second link, J, to whichthe upper end ofthe link I is hung, as at b, the other end of the linksJ hung upon a fixed bearing, d, in the frame, these bearings (hererepresented as trunnions) extending from the links into the frame, asseen in broken lines, Fig. 1,'and so that as the links are in theirstraight or extended position, as seen in Fig. 4, the slide C will beforced to its extreme down position, and when the links are in thecontracted position, as seen in Fig. 3, the slide C will be raised toits highest point. Each of the links J is constructed with a slot, K,parallel with a line between their two connectingpointsb d. At the upperend this slot is curved inward, as at L. Through these slots is atransverse shaft, M, and on the upper end of the punch-slide Dbracket-arms N N are fixed or made a part of the slide, through whichthe said shaft M extends, as seen in Fig. 1, and so thatintheup-and-down movement of the punchslide the shaft M will be carriedwith it. The shaft extends through the slotsin the two slides and into avertical groove, O, in theframe at each side, and in that groove thereis preferably arranged a sliding box, I), in which the ends of the shaftM rest, the sliding boxes P forming the bearing for the shaft M. In eachof the slots K the shaft is preferably provided with an anti-frictionroll, R, which will freely work in the slots of the links as thepuneh-slide is The punch slide D,

moved up and down. The shaft M is in such relation to the slot that whenthe parallel portion K of the slots stands in an upright position theywill be in a vertical plane, as seen in Fig. 4, and'so that the shaft M,under the movement of the punehslide, may move up and down through theparallel portion of the slot K without effect upon the rtoggles; but asthe punch-slide rises and brings the shaft M to the upper end of theparallel portion of the Slots, and as it (the shaft) cannot turn fromits vertical path, it acts as a cam on the curved portion of the slots,and as it completes its upward movement it passes into the curvedportion oftheslots and turnsthelinksoutward from their straight orextended position into the contracted position, as seenin Fig. 3, andthis position occurs when the punch-slide is in its extreme nppositon.Then as the punch-slide commences its descent the shaft M also descends,and,working through the curved portion of the slots, quickly throws thelinks into their extended position, and consequently quickly forces downthe holding-slide C to its extremey position, as seen in Fig. 4, thisextreme down positionoccurring just as the shaft M passes into thestraight or parallel portion of the slot. Then the punclrslide continuesits descent without effect upon the holding-slide. Thus it followsthatthe punch-slide descends to its holding position considerably in advanceofthe punch, and remains in that holding position until the punchslideapproaches its extreme up position, and the operation of theholding-slide is produced without direct counection with thedriving-shaft.

I have described and prefer the arrangement of the shaft as supported inthe brackets and slide and extending into the sides of the frame,because the frame takes the bearing of the shaft in the operation of thelinks and relieves the slide; but the links may be operated simply bytrunnions projecting from the slide, as seen in Fig. 5, the trunnionsperforming substantially the same operation as the shaft, and may beconsidered as a part of the shaft;

As the links must always bring the face of the slide to a certain point,and cannot there- ,fore be convenient] y adjustable, it is necessary tomake the face. of the die adjustable with relation to the holding-faceof the slide, in order that the two faces may `come into the properrelative position to grip the sheet.' To this end I construct thedie-holder S (see Fig.

' 6) of tubular shape, screw-threaded upon its outer surface, andconstruct the bed with an opening, T, through which the tubular portionof the die-holder may extend, and on the tubular portion of the die Iplace a nut, U, adapted to rest upon the bed around the opening therein,and as seen in Fig. 6.

From the die-holder bolts 2 extenddown through ears 3 3 on the bed, thebolts being fixed in the dieholder, and so that as the holder is raisedor lowered the bolts will move accordingly, and I prefer to arrangethese bolts two in front, as seen in Fig. 7, and with two-likeboltsattherear. (Not shown.) These bolts, below the ears 3, are each providedwith a nut, 5. Vhen it is desired to adjust thelower or fixed'die,the'holding-slide is brought to its lowest position, a. blank laid uponthe lower die-holder, the nuts 5 are unscrewed, and then thenut U turnedto raise the die-holder up until the blank will be properly grippedbetween the face of the holding-slide and the die below. This done, thenuts 5 are returned up to'a hard Abearing, and so as to securely lockthe die-holder in place.

If`it.be required to drop the lower die, then the nut U is turnedaccordingly, and the nuts 5 brought up to a bearing, as before. By thisarrangement not only is the die-holder Afirmly held, butits level ismaintained, and all liability to displacement his avoided.'

rIo adj ust the punch with relation to the die, I construct the punchl/V, or may be the punchholder, separate from 'the slide D, and ofcylindrical shape, and in the lower end of the slide D, I make acorresponding cylindrical cavity, Y, (see Fig. 3,) and from the upperend of the punch W', or punch-holder, as the case may be, is aconcentric screwshauk, @which extends up into a corresponding cavity inthe punch-slide, and in the slide is a transverse recess, f, in which anut, g, is arranged, threaded corresponding to the. shank e of the punchor punch-holder. This recess f opens to the front of the punch-slide D,as seen in Fig. l, so that access is had to the nut g. The nut isprovided with radial holes or other means whereby instruments may beapplied to rotate the nut. y

The punch or lholder Wis grooved vertically, and in the slide aset-screw, h, is introduced, the end of which enters the vertical groovein the holder W, as seen in Fig. 2, to prevent its rotation,and so thatit may be posi- Lively set when once adjusted.

'Io adjust the punch or holder, the nut g is turned to raise or lowerthe punch or holder, as the case may be, into its proper relation withthe fixed die.

Each punch may be constructed with a shank, e, screw-threadedcorresponding to the nut g, or it may be a holder adapted at its lowerend to receivev the punch, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 3, by theterm punchholder.77 Therefore I wish to be understood as including` thepunch itself as an integral part of the holder, if such construction isdesi rable.

It is desirable,if not necessary,that the holdin g-surfaccs should be inperfect parallel planes in order to make an even pressure upon the sheetbetween them. However perfectly the machine maybe bnilt,thereisliability of some degree of variation in changing the holdingsurfaces orthedics. To provide for such adjustment of the holding-surfaces, Iconstruct the holding-slide with an adjustable face-piece, 6. (See Fig.3.) This'piece corresponds in outline to the lower end of the slide,

On the adjacent surfaces of the holdingpiece 6 and the lower end oftheslide I form a projection, 7,l on the one part, with a correspondingcavity in the other part, the projection being represented in Fig. 3 asmade on the holding-face piece 6. The surfaces bctween the two partsoutside of this projection 7 do not come to a bearing-that is, a space,8, is leftrbetween the two parts around the projection 7. rIhe lower endofthe slide projects outward to form a flange, 9, and through thisflange several screws, 10, are introduced into the facepiece 6 below,the screws being outside the projection. 1

I do not wish to be understood as claiming, broadly, a die-holder havingascrew-threaded shank set into a recess in the bedof the press, with anut on the shank, as such, I am aware, is not new.

I claiml. In a double-action power-press, the combination of thelvertical slidel carrying the movable holding-surface, avertically-movable slide carrying the punch, mechanism, substantiallysuch as described, to impart reciprocating movement to the punch-slide,and a toggle or toggles, one link, I, of which is hung to the slidewhich carries the holding-surface, the other link, J, hung to axed pointin theframe, .the said link J constructedwith a slot parallel with theline between its fixed point of connection with thev frame and its pointof connection with the other link, I, the said slot curved at the xedend and toward the fixed point, the punch-slide provided with anextension into said slot and so as to wo'rk therein under thereciprocating movement of theV punch-slide, substantially as described,and whereby under such up-and-down reciprocating movement of the slidethe corresponding contracting and extending'movements are imparted tosaid link, and thence to the holdingslide.

2. In a double-action power-press, the combination of the vertical slidecarrying the IOO.

IIO

movable holding-surface, a vertically-movable v slide carrying thepunch, mechanism, substantially such as described, to impartreciprocating movement to the punch-slide, a toggle or togglesconsisting of the two pairs of links I J, hinged together, the lower endof the links I- hung ,to the said holding-surface slide, the upper endof the links Jhung to a fixed point in the frame, the said links Jconstructed with a slot, K, parallel with the line between the xfed Ils'point upon which the said links J are hung and the point by which theyare connected to the other links, I, the upper end of the said slot Kturned inward toward the fixed point upon which the links J are hung, ashaft, M, fixed to the punch-slide and extending through the slotinthelink or links J, and the frame provided with vertical grooves O, intowhich the ends of the said shaft ll extend as vertical working-guides,substantially as described.

3. The herein-described adjustment for the xed die of power-presses,consisting of the-` die-holder S, constructed with a tubular shank vsaid cavity, the punch-holder arranged in said cavity and constructedwith a screw-threaded r 5 shank, e, extending vertically upward fromsaid cavity through said recess j', and a nut, g, in said transverserecess corresponding in thickness to the height of said recess, the saidnut y screw threaded corresponding to the 2o screw-threaded shank `ofthe die'holder, all substantially as described.

, NORMAN C. S'IILES. Witnesses:

FRED C. EARLE, JOHN E. EARLE.

